R&B was celebrated during Centric/BET’s “Soul Train Awards” telecast last night. The show was taped on Nov. 6. The Weeknd and Uptown Funk tied with two awards each to lead the list of winners. The Weeknd grabbed Best R&B/Soul Male Artist and Album Of The Year for “Beauty Behind The Madness”, while Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk”, featuring Bruno Mars, won for Song Of The Year and Video Of The Year. Among the other winners Jidenna for Best New Artist. Opening the show with a medley of her hits, Erykah Badu doubled as host, keeping up a lively pace. At one point, she made fun of her “bad influence” on some of hip hop’s most notable stars. In another moment that drew raucous laughter, Badu noted that the evening would be devoted to singing and thus, no rappers were allowed. She even took a phone call on stage from rapper Iggy Azalea telling her that she could come to the show however, “because you’re definitely not rap”. This was Badu’s second stint as host, having hosted the show in 1999. A slew of established and emerging stars delivered powerful performances, including Tyrese (who won The Centric Certified Award), R Kelly, Jazmine Sullivan, Cameo, Erica Campbell, Tasha Cobbs, Empire’s V. Bozeman and After 7. Badu along with Chrisette Michele, K-Ci Hailey, Lalah Hathaway and Eddie Levert brought the crowd to its feet during the inaugural Soul Train Cypher. Capping the evening were tributes to Jill Scott and Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds. Upon receiving the first ever Lady Of Soul Award, Scott treated the audience to a stirring performance of fan favorites and new material including her current single “Back Together”, “A Long Walk Home”, “Whatever” and “Cross My Mind”. Scott also took home Best R&B/Soul Female Artist. Babyface’s prolific and Grammy Award winning career as a songwriter/producer was the focal point of a roof raising tribute that included Fantasia (who brought the house down with “Exhale (Shoop, Shoop)”, Boys To Men (I’ll Make Love To You, “End Of The Road”), Brandy (“Sitting Up In My Room”), Tevin Campbell (“Can We Talk”) and surprise guest Bobby Brown (“Roni”, joined by Babyface). Epic chairman/CEO and longtime friend and creative/business partner LA Reid presented the Legend Award to Babyface, who ended the tribute with a performance of his hit “Whip Appeal”. It was a star studded evening that won’t be forgotten. Rapper Ict T and his wife Coco announced the birth of their daughter. Coco posted a picture of the infant on her Instagram account. Singer John Legend and his wife Chissy Teigen showed their support for Planned Parenthood after a deadly shooting at a Colorado Springs clinic on Friday. Teigen tweeted her response to the incident including a link to the organization’s donation page as well as additional messages of support. Legend later retweeted his wife’s message.
In The News
30 Monday Nov 2015
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